IMPORTANT – NEED TO READ: Assembly is required. We ship these via Road Runner Transportation, Dependable Highway Express, or EDI Transportation. These are delivered by large 18 wheeler trucks. The length of the driveway or street you live on may a

Pretty awesome… this product is as advertised. Whisper quiet, and it is perfect for regular cardio exercise as well as physical therapy. There are 20 levels of resistance, and 15 or 16 is great for me. Although the instructions do appear a little overwhelming at first, assembly was a snap once I got going. The amount of lines on the paper sort of unnecessarily add to the instructions. Once you get past the first 3 steps, the thing starts coming together and before you know it, you have a completed machine that is ready to go.

I am really happy with this purchase, and very happy ordering it through BodyDesign Fitness. They really worked with me to answer all my questions and get me straight. I chose the CS2 over the CS1 due to the bigger flywheel and also the heart rate monitor and digital display.

If there was any mention of negativity during the whole process, it has to be with the shipping of the product. In fact, the 5 stars for this review is for the product and seller. If I could break this review into two parts, the second being the shipper, then I would give them no stars. It was delivered by Saia, and when they say deliver to your driveway, they REALLY mean it. It’s basically a guy in a massive semi who parks on your street, and pretty much expects you to dolly it off somehow from his trailer, which sits about six feet high off the ground. He didn’t have/use a hydraulic lift or anything. In fact, we had to self-slide the entire box down onto the pavement and it could have come crashing down. We were lucky that it didn’t. It’s a huge box so you should expect to have at least two people (uh, make that 3) to carry it in. I ended up breaking open the box in my driveway and carrying it into my house one piece at a time because it was so heavy. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining.

The Inspire Cardio Strider is quite heavy, approx. 300 lbs. and boxed on a pallet. When delivered it’s moved with a pallet jack off the truck. When mine was delivered there was some significant exterior damage to the packaging, but it is so well packaged that the contents did not receive a single scratch. All components are L/R marked, which makes it easy to know which part goes where.

The main body of the components is the only part that will require a two-man lift if you have stairs or are unable to move the component once the wheels are mounted. The shipping company was unable to deliver inside of the house, so movement will be required unless you plan to assemble and use in a garage.

Once moved, assembly can be done by a single person in about 3 hours time. There is a toolkit provided, but the tools are a little cheaply made. If you wish to use your own tools, (recommended), you will require Allen wrenches, 9/16″ and 1/2″ box wrenches or socket wrench set, and a Phillips head screwdriver. (The screwdriver in the kit is best used as all Phillips screws are for plastics and the shrouds and plastics could be damaged if too much torque is applied. I suggest using the supplied screwdriver as it requires a finger grasp instead of a palm grip, which will ensure you do not over-tighten and crack the plastic shrouds.)

Most of the bolt holes were tapped buttery smooth, but there were two that gave me some trouble to get started. There are joints that require 6 bolts to be set for the connection. Make sure to start all bolts by hand, as you may have trouble setting a bolt if others are snug and risk stripping out one of the tapped bolt holes. Most are able to screw in easily by hand and once they are all started in the holes for the joint, then you should tighten the bolts down. One of these 6 hole joints had a tapped hole with a burr in it and I thought I might have to re-tap with an M8 tap, but with some tedious work, was finally able to start the bolt straight and tighten.

The plastic shrouds have some tension on them, so the plastic needs some force to line up the holes. Again, I advise caution with the shrouds, as I can see the shrouds could crack at the holes if not done carefully, and/or over-tightened. The shrouds also have a plastic film over them that should be partially removed on both sides of the areas where the holes are. Once the screws are snug with the supplied screwdriver, you can remove the remaining film, which will help you refrain from scratching the translucent plastics.

Once complete, I gave the finished device a quick functions test. The operation was smooth and quiet. I especially like that the L/R arms have bearings that assist with the smooth operation. (I purchased this model because it had bearings instead of just a lubricated post.)

Everything works great. The operators guide is behind the assembly instructions, which makes no sense. The assembly happens only once, but you may find yourself referring back to the operator’s guide. It would have made better sense to either have a separate guide, or to place the operator’s guide in front of the assembly instructions. As it is, you must thumb past the assembly instructions to find the operator’s guide. (Tedious)

The operator’s guide is not well written, and you may have trouble understanding how to setup your name in place of “USER 1-4”, or how to get to the screen which keeps a tally of all your sessions.

My assembly went rather well with exception to a few screws that did not want to start straight. Using the device is fairly easy, but again some of the options in the computer are difficult to find. The strider wobbles a little during use, even though there are feet that screw downwards for stabilization. (My wobble could also come from the floor tiles, which are designed for use under such workout machines to cushion and protect the wood floor underneath.) However the wobble is only slight and not disruptive.

I am very happy with the purchase, as the machine is well built and I believe it will last a great many years to come. If I had it to do over, I would definitely buy this exercise machine and I highly recommend it.

Very high quality. Very quiet, sturdy and stable and comfortable. I’d say its commercial quality. Its nice for working both arms and legs and can be used to work different muscles depending on whether I push with my arms or pull. Since I am sitting, I can work my muscles for longer periods of time to build endurance.